Proverbs 3:34—“Surely he scorneth the scorners … but he giveth grace unto the lowly.”

Surely he scorneth the scorners: but he giveth grace unto the lowly (Prov. 3:34 KJV).

(I)

Rev. Herman Hoeksema

[Source: Protestant Reformed Theological Journal, vol. 2, no. 1, Dec. 1968]

The same antithesis is expressed in verse 34: “Surely he scorneth the scorners: but he giveth grace unto the lowly.” Here one who derides is a scoffer, a profane person, who mocks at sacred things and tramples underfoot the things of God. God assumes precisely the same attitude toward him that he assumes toward God and sacred things. God mocks him, derides him, laughs at him, and makes him the object of his scorn. In contrast the text speaks of the lowly, the meek, the righteous, as they suffer affliction and bear it with the patience of faith. They receive grace. The implication is that the scoffers receive no grace. God assumes an attitude of grace and bestows his grace on the lowly, not on the wicked. There is no common grace. There is always-present and ever-recurring antithesis.

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(II)

More to come! (DV)